1. Field
The present invention relates in general to in-home or domestic portable closets and coat racks with commercial adaptation and marketability for offices and retail use as well. Its purpose is to provide additional, temporary and permanent ways to hang garments and other types of clothing accessories.
2. Prior Art
There is a wide variety of portable closets and coat racks currently available in the marketplace. In fact, there are numerous T-shaped portable closets and coat racks that are close in appearance to this present invention. However, their design and construction do not address most consumers' sought after criteria of simplicity, stability, durability, versatility and estheticism. Some of them even neglect the paramount criteria of safety as they can easily break down or topple over. The assembly of some current portable closet and coat rack models can be sometimes cumbersome and, with many of them, the consumer has to have extra mechanical accessories or some specially designed tool in order to erect and disassemble the unit. Those accessories and tools sometimes come in the box but, unfortunately, too often consumers have to run to the closest hardware store to buy them when they are missing. This may be repeated several times if this small tool is lost or misplaced. Also, the models currently available are often designed for child use strictly or exclusively for adults. A single unit constructed to suit both child and adult use with consideration for height and age variations is a rare commodity if it exists at all.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,722 by Maynard A. Wallin describes a portable closet to fit behind a wall or in a recreational vehicle to store and hang clothes. This closet has arms as racks in the horizontal position attached to the closet to put shirt and trouser hangers. The shirt rack has large equally spaced shirt hanger hooks screwed in along its length to hang shirt hangers.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,260 by Robert E. DeVore also describes a portable clothes closet to be attached to a vehicle. This invention has a base which provides a surface to support the closet. In addition, it has a frame with cross bar to hang clothes. The frame is attached to the base.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,491 by Elizabeth A. Seidman describes a portable closet for storing, transporting, and displaying clothes. The closet comprises the hanger rods which extend across the left and right portions of the closet. The hanger rod is located near the top of the rear portion of the box.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,883 issued to Robert E. DeVore, a portable clothes closet bracket to be attached to a vehicle is disclosed. This closet also has a base which provides support to the storage device. The frame is attached to the base.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,824 B1 issued to Joel Alperson, a retail display rack is described having a base member, a tubular housing member for receiving a pair of arms. The simple, easily adjustable and stable display rack is used for holding garments.
The object of this invention is to provide a simple, reliable, stable, durable, versatile, safe, and user-friendly portable closet and coat rack to hang and store clothes and accessories. It creates additional rack space without being at odds with the decor. It is easily and safely adjusted at selective heights suitable for adult and children. It requires no assembly of tools or cumbersome mechanical accessories to erect or disassemble; thereby making its transportation and storage very easy.
This present device is a simplified portable closet and coat rack (that comes with a coin insert located in the area of the base called the stabilizer which also functions as a coin holder/piggy bank. Unlike many products in its category, this multi-purpose portable closet and coat rack does not require cumbersome mechanical accessories or assembly tool. Versatility is among its many characteristics allowing the unit to be adjusted safely and easily at selectable heights making it suitable for both child and adult use. The conception and design of this product is to provide user-friendly, more aesthetic and more reliable portable closet or clothing rack. The criteria of stability, durability, versatility, simplicity, estheticism and safety are the main items of this new portable closet and coat rack.
Therefore, the primary focus was to make a product that is stable and safe but simple, easy to handle and that can be used by a larger population of consumers. This product is conformable to both domestic and commercial consumers and adaptable to both child and adult use. This new generation of portable closet and coat rack is now invented for many to enjoy having in their homes or place of business. This esthetically well designed unit creates additional closet and coat rack space without being at odds with the décor. This product is assembled manually and easily by following only a few simple steps. The process takes only a fraction of the time required by the other ordinary portable closets or coat racks. The closet can also be taken apart and stored in a fraction of the time required by the currently available models. Yet the criteria of safety, stability, estheticism, durability, and versatility are not compromised due to the unit's innovative design. This invention is also unique when considering the fact that absolutely no tools are required to erect or disassemble the unit as well as its potential use as a coin holder/Piggy Bank where parents can teach savings to children or use for themselves to store away petty cash. Transporting this light weight product is also easy as it can fit in a bag and carried in one arm with not much effort.
The four plates of the flat base, the folding capability of the base, the four screwing cups, and retainers of the base, the petal shape of the plates, the two screwing cups of the arm, the specially designed cylinder-shaped stabilizer, the savings and storage features of the stabilizer, the four threaded legs of the stabilizer, the specially designed mounting post sections, the bi-functional mounting cap, the specially designed trombone shaped arms, the no tool concept and design of the entire unit convey to this invention its flair and its originality.